Hafizullah Amin

Hafizullah Amin (1 August 1929-27 December 1979) was the President of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 14 September to 27 December 1979, succeeding Nur Muhammad Taraki and preceding Babrak Karmal. A puppet of the Soviet Union, Amin was killed and replaced by his Soviet allies after he was powerless to stop the Mujahideen revolt.

Biography
Amin was a Ghilzai Pashtun from Paghman in Kabul Province in the Kingdom of Afghanistan, born on 1 August 1929. He graduated Kabul University as a teacher and studied in the United States twice, and joined the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1965. Alongside the party, he ran for parliament that year but failed, but in 1969 he became the only Khalqist (a faction of the PDPA) elected to Parliament.

In 1978, Amin took part in the Saur Revolution and cultivated President Nur Muhammad Taraki's cult of personality. However, Taraki's leadership caused a rebellion against the government by the Mujahideen (Islamic leaders opposed to Mohammed Daoud Khan's modernizing government, set up in 1975) and Taraki was powerless to stop the rebels. Amin, with aid from the Soviet Union, killed Taraki and took power in his stead in September.

However, Amin was just as helpless as his predecessor was. The Soviet Union and Afghanistan's relations deteriorated as the PDPA army deserted to the rebels, and the Russians decided that it was time to take matters into their own hands.

Death
On 27 December 1979, two days after the Soviet Union sent 85,000 troops to invade Afghanistan, 660 Spetsnaz troops launched Operation Storm-333 and attacked the presidential palace in Kabul. Amin and 2,200 Afghan troops resisted, but the Soviet troops were more experienced. Amin's 11-year-old son died from shrapnel and Amin himself was gunned down. The Soviets installed Babrak Karmal as the new president.